Advocacy and Research

As the collective national voice for issues facing Canada’s MIAs and their members, the CCMIA consults with staff and elected officials in the provincial and federal governments through departments such as Canadian Heritage and Industry Canada, as well as at government agencies like the CRTC and the Copyright Board.

The CCMIA also frequently represents the interests of its member MIAs to FACTOR, SOCAN, and other national music industry organizations. Sometimes this work is purely as an advocate, while at other times the CCMIA is called on to work as a trusted partner with these organizations on initiatives such as export development and addressing the impacts of new technology.

To support its advocacy work, the CCMIA has helped fund important studies on the state of the Canadian music industry, including the 2013 Sound Analysis report conducted by Nordicity on behalf of the Canadian Independent Music Association (CIMA).

The coalition was invited to present to elected members of Parliament on a variety of issues facing the Canadian music industries. In May 2015, coalition representatives, in partnership with Global Public Affairs, met with various Members of Parliament, Ministers, and Party Leaders and Critics to discuss music export issues, revamping the Copyright Board, reviewing the Copyright Modernization Act, ideas for the Wireless Spectrum Auction, and issues around streaming services.

In August 2015, the coalition submitted an intervention to the CRTC around Bell Media’s request to convert Much and M3 into Specialty Category B services. To see a summary of key points, see the related CIMA release here. The complete submission can be found here.

Also in August 2015, the coalition submitted an intervention to the CRTC on Corus Entertainment’s proposed changes to their Country Music Television licence. CIMA has provided a summary of key points here, and the full submission is available here.

In 2014, CCMIA President Bob D’Eith provided testimony before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in its review of the Canadian music industry. This testimony included an assessment of how digital dissemination technologies have led to a paradigm shift in the global distribution of recorded music.

Past CCMIA Efforts

In 2011, during the consideration of Bill C-32 (the template for Bill C-11), the Copyright Modernization Act, then-CCMIA President John-Paul Ellson testified before the special Legislative Committee at the House of Commons on how the Copyright Modernization Act would affect all Canadian music creators. His testimony was supplemented by written CCMIA submissions about how proposed amendments relating to emerging technologies would affect the enforcement and licensing of copyright works in Canada.

The Canadian Council of Music Industry Associations (CCMIA) is a national council representing the provincial and territorial music industry associations (MIAs) in Canada.